An Exclusive Interview with Supermodel Carol Alt
By Mike Bundrant

Since her days as the world's most renowned Supermodel, Carol Alt has gone on to be author, actress and entrepreneur. Having enjoyed success in all her endeavors such as: USA Today's Best-Selling Author for her book on raw food, multi- award winning actress, the face of her own line of cosmetics, a number one hit in Europe in the music industry, voiceovers for such hits as King of the Hill, and as the host of various TV and radio morning shows and newscasts - including Fox's Good Day Live.

Gracing the covers of over 700 magazines, several posters, two workout videos and numerous calendars, she is touted as "The model that started the Supermodel trend" by John Casablanca, the owner of Elite Models.

Recently Carol published her book, The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle.

It was my pleasure to speak with Carol about her books and what motivated her to get involved in the raw food lifestyle.

HT:  Tell me about your first book.

Carol Alt:  The intent of my first book, Eating in the Raw, was to be an introduction to the raw food lifestyle for mainstream people interested in improving their health.  Even though I’m “raw”, I also understand that many people can’t do that right out of the box. Also, people tend to be skeptical or get panicky because they don’t understand what it is.
I’ve learned that human nature is such that if you do a lightweight introduction and then start feeding more advanced concepts in once people become familiar with the basics.

Ultimately the body speaks for itself over time. When you eat more raw food, you begin to feel better quickly – so all you really need to do is listen to your body and continue to make the transition at your own pace.  If you do 70-80% raw, you can probably cure yourself of just about anything.

HT:  When did you go raw?

Carol: Twelve years ago. At that time there were no raw restaurants or many of the resources we have at our disposal today. We were left on our own to figure out recipes and many of the practical issues that make the raw food lifestyle possible. Now, all you have to do is go online and there are a ton of resources available. It’s a much easier transition these days; you can find a raw alternative to almost anything cooked.

All I could think of at the time I made the transition was the fact that everyone I knew was asking me how to do it. So, I decided to write it all down.

HT:  Why did you go raw?

Carol: I didn’t feel good!  I was doing Supermodels in the Rainforest. I was 30 years old at the time. At the shoot was a beautiful 20 year old model bouncing around with all kinds of energy – tight little body, skinny….I was looking at her and asking myself, “What happened?”  I was only ten years ahead of her in a (hopefully) 80-year life. And I had gone from “that” to “this”!  I was honest enough with myself to admit that there must a better way; I wanted to feel young again.

It was very depressing. I left that job after they told my manager that I was not in “bathing suit condition” and I really felt awful. I felt my career was over. I wasn’t ready to finish just yet.

Soon after I got a phone call from a friend of mine who referred me to a natural doctor who was into fasting and juicing and so on. I was skeptical, but something inside me said. “Don’t be an idiot! You're hoping for an answer, but if you don’t venture out and try new things, you’ll never find it.”  So, I called Dr. Timothy Brantley in Brentwood, CA.

The first question Dr. Brantley asked me was, “What do you eat?”  When I told him, he replied, “With what you told me I’d be surprised if you didn’t have….” And then he listed the top six conditions I was suffering from – heartburn, headaches, colds and flu, indigestion, sinus infections – all the things people told me was “normal” because I was getting older. 

We’re trained to believe that as we get older, the body gets worse. But, I have found that I’ve been able to reverse all of these conditions that people believe are natural products of getting older, so I’m a great believer that it all has to do with diet. I’m a walking billboard for it. I’ve been able to turn my health, body and age factor around and I’ve had an amazing career – twice as long as it would have been. So, what started out as me wanting to feel better and look better in order to keep my job, ended up being all about health for me. I don’t want to as sick as the people I see around me. It’s a lifestyle issue.

HT:  Are you 100% raw? And you never eat things like ice cream and apple pie?

Carol:  Well, I’m not totally 100% raw. My boyfriend is a hockey player, so when I go to a hockey game, I eat popcorn (I pop enzymes to help it digest). And yes, I do eat ice cream and apple pie, but I have them raw. There are companies that make raw ice cream with no animal products. Everything YOU eat cooked, I eat raw. Everything! There isn’t anything I eat cooked except popcorn. I even eat my corn chips raw. That is the point of my books, to bring this lifestyle to a broader base.

HT:  How much extra work is it to eat raw?

Carol:  None. I order it online if I want to. It is a little more expensive that way, but I have friends who make it all at home very inexpensively. There’s raw food recipes in my books and, again, online there are raw food tips and recipes everywhere. Its’ just like cooked food – you can spend more money and have gourmet items shipped to you, or you can make it at home on any budget.

HT:  What would you suggest to people who are just learning about raw food?

Carol:  I think people tend to think that there are no miracles in life. But, this is the miracle that I believe everyone is looking for.  Everyone has some health issue that raw food can improve. I know there are a lot of skeptics out there that have never been taught this stuff – and no one wants to believe they’ve been taught a bad way to eat by their parents. But, here's the problem. Our food is changing! Our parents had to put up with DDT at worst.

Now, we’re radiating, genetically modifying, “DDT-ing” – we have 72 different pesticides in our food and water table.  We’re pasteurizing. We’re doing all sorts of crazy things that started after World War II.  So, the problem is not that our parents taught us incorrectly. The problem is that our food has changed!  And we have to adapt or we’re going to fall by the wayside.

My health is my primary objective and I do whatever it takes to give my body what it needs.  If your primary objective is your health, you will do what it takes to educate yourself and find the foods you need.  The issue here is quality of life and longevity.

HT:  Why don’t people apply what they already know to improve their health?

Carol: I think it’s because we don’t believe we’re going to achieve the results we think we want. We don’t really believe we can look like the bodybuilders or models we so often see on television. In my books I’ve tried to say that it is not just me. Anyone can do it. I tell stories of people from average families with normal jobs and live normal lives who may be pinching pennies and so forth, but who have made real changes as a result of changing what they eat.  I’m not the only one who has gotten miraculous results.

You can find Carol Alt at www.rawnutrition.com